Sunday, 8 July 2018

Dwarrowdelf - The Sons of Fëanor

DWARROWDELF - The Sons of Fëanor (WOLFSPELL Records - CD 2018)

One look at the artwork and the title of this CD and you know that Tolkien and Summoning have both found another fanatic disciple. Or copycat. Even without listening to this album I could have guessed what music it will offer. And I was fuckin right. Soooo, unpredictability is not a strongest aspect of Dwarrowdelfhaha. But yes, it’s that same kind of epic and bombastic, orchestral type of “black metal” (which isn’t black metal, let’s be honest, more like fantasy metal). The music is often based on the enchanting passages of keyboards, with all these characteristic rhythms of the programmed drums, which Summoning invented. Even the vocals have characteristic sound and style of arrangements, which you know if you ever heard albums such as “Stronghold”. Dwarrowdelf music is foreseeable from start to finish and only the song called “Amras” has a bit different approach, as it’s not so deeply based on orchestral parts, but it’s more guitar-based song, which sometimes reminds me band called Sear Bliss.

Anyway, albums such as “The Sons of Fëanor” doesn’t do harm. I could give them a listen and occasionally enjoy such music, but I also quickly get bored. Such style of music is too monotonous to me, not only because it’s too happy sounding, but also because every song sounds just the same. Slow, melodic, sooo “nice”, folky and “pretty”.... ”Let’sgrab a bow, make pointy ears, find your wizard companion and go to Rivendell!!!”!!!! Noooo, thanks but it’s not my kind of stuff. Surely Dwarrowdelf came up with some interesting orchestral keyboard parts, with a lot of memorable and catchy, easily listenable music... The performance is solid, although these programmed drums sound awful. But Tom O'Dell’s vocals are good, including clean vocals, which are included here and there. The production (except the mentioned drumming) is OK as well... I cannot say anything bad about the compositions, arrangements, song structures... They are exactly what you expect to hear from this sort of bands. And Dwarrowdelf fits the box with “epic Tolkien metal” perfectly. The only problem is that for me it’s nothing I would really like to listen to. It's just not my thing.

So, before you get yourself a copy of “The Sons of Fëanor” just ask yourself if you need another Summoning clone. Another band, which sounds exactly like the Austrians, but have nothing exceptional to offer, to be honest. There already are Caladan Brood, Draudan Forest (which is way better than Dwarrowdelf, in my opinion), Falkenbach... There’s new Summoning album released a while ago... Is there a place for “The Sons of Fëanor” in your collection also? If there is, then get it. If you’re fan of this sort of playing you will probably like it. I got bored with this music too quickly to bother. I’m not even big Summoning fan in the first place, so band like Dwarrowdelf has no chance to impress me. I did spin it couple of times, but that’s it. And why the hell all these epic bands have to record such long albums?? I can barely go through the whole album at once, without falling asleep, sorryhahaha!